Every few weeks when I step back and look at what I’ve been working on to write a post like this, I surprise myself with how much I’ve been able to accomplish this year in my sewing room. I’ve made a ton of stuff on top of being a wife and a mom and working full-time. I’m giving myself a pat on the back — but also permission to slow down a little. I put a lot of projects on my place for spring and summer will be a good time to relax.

I’ll start with the biggest news: a couple weeks ago, I finished up a new version of my Triangles at Play quilt. I made this in collaboration with Craftsy using an upcoming release from their Lily & Loom fabric collection! I know — exciting! This fabric will be available for purchase at the beginning of July and you’ll even be able to buy a kit to make this specific quilt! Since that’s only a couple weeks away, I’m finally able to start spilling the beans on this fun project. I’ll be posting more about it before the end of June, so consider this a teaser…

For the last week I’ve spent most of my sewing time working on the Diamonds Galore quilt for my mom. I haven’t taken a photo of it since this one from last week, but since then I finished sewing the rows together, added borders, got it basted on Sunday and quilted on Monday! I was trying to get it finished before Mom flew in last night for a visit but alas, I didn’t quite make it — it still needs binding. But I showed it to her anyway (the design was a semi-surprise) and will finish it up this week.

I’m still on track in the Long Time Gone sew-along and we are getting so close to the end! The bad news is that I’ve got several things on my calendar in the next month that will eat into my sewing time…and I’m a little worried that I might fall behind. Eek! There’s only one more set of blocks to go but they are beasts — 16 pineapple blocks with 37 pieces in each one. Yes, that’s 592 pieces in all. And then as I looked over the pattern again last night, I realized that there’s actually a bit more “filler” to be made than I realized in the form of checkerboard blocks and borders. I’m going to do my very best to stay on track and hopefully I can limp across the finish line on time with the rest of the sew-along group.

And finally, if you’re a regular reader you’ve already seen these but if you’re new, here are three more finishes from the last few weeks — a Trolls dress for Emma, my Greenery mini quilt (which didn’t win anything in the Pantone challenge but no matter because I love it anyway!), and my Barn Quilt of the Month block for May. I’m working on June’s block but probably won’t get it posted until the last few days of the month.

With the year clearly more than half over, I thought it’d be fun to check in on the 2015 crafty goals I set back in January. All things considering, I’ve made pretty good progress. As is probably to be expected, there are a few things that fell by the wayside, but there have also been projects that weren’t even on this list 7+ months ago.

Pile o’ Fabric’s 2015 Skill Builder Block of the Month. This one has been the biggest fail — so far, at least. I knew from the start it would be an intimidating project, but it turns out it’s been intimidating enough that I haven’t started at all and instead have let other projects repeatedly take priority. Nonetheless, I have all the materials and instructions and hope to work on this in tiny bits over the rest of the year.

Stitched in Color’s Curves class. I’ll give myself half credit for this. I didn’t really follow along with the class at all (although I did save all the material for future reference). However, I mentioned back in January that the biggest reason I chose this class is because I really want to learn how to make Rachel’s Oodalolly quilt — and I did! I made this version for my friend Karen’s baby boy.

Make all the baby quilts. I’ve made two so far (Rising Balloons and my Oodalolly) and have two more on my list before the year is done — one for my new niece and one for baby #2!

Make progress on a La Passacaglia quilt. Done! Slow and steady, right? I’ve got one rosette done plus two more half finished. I suspect this may turn out to be my project of choice while on maternity leave since 1) it can be done while sitting on the couch and 2) it can be worked on in very small chunks of time.

Make a lap quilt for myself. I have several ideas for what I want to make, but this one is fairly low on the priority list for now. The two baby quilts mentioned above plus one for Emma’s twin bed are higher priority, and I highly doubt I’ll even finish those three by the end of the year. Making a quilt for myself may very well have to wait until 2016.

One Little Word album. I’m totally on track with my OLW album! Hooray! I have enjoyed it, and the album-making process keeps tempting me start a Project Life album to document other parts of life. We’ll see.

Hello!

I'm Sarah, a NASA engineer by day and quilter by night. I live in Houston with my husband and our two young daughters. I've had this ol' blog for more than 15 years, and these days it's home to my quilting work, snippets of family life, and occasional musings on my engineering career.